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Make Your Mark/Barker's Markers
Make Your Mark was a game played for three prizes and money too. Gameplay The contestant is given $500 and is shown four prices on the game board. Three of the prices correspond with the three prizes; the fourth is an extra price that does not match any of the prizes. The contestant is asked to place markers beside the three prices that correspond with the prizes. The contestant is not required to specifically match prices to their prizes; they are only required to choose the three prices that are correct. The correctly marked prices of two of the prizes are revealed, leaving the third prize and two possible prices. The contestant is then given the option to return the $500 in order to move their marker to the unselected price if they believe their initial choice is wrong. If the marker is correctly placed, the contestant wins all three prizes, plus the $500 if they have not returned it. If they are incorrect, however, they do not win the prizes, but keep the $500 had they chosen to not move the marker. History and behind the scenes Prior to Season 37, if a contestant chose to leave the marker at the originally selected price and that price was wrong, not only did they lose the game and prizes, but also forfeited the $500. The game's original name, "Barker's Marker$", referred to former Price Is Right host Bob Barker. Because Barker's Bargain Bar is now on hiatus, there are no games currently being played which refer to Barker in name. A third game, the now-retired Trader Bob, was played from 1980 through 1985. The name change after it's final playing under Barker on April 19, 2007 was also accompanied by a completely updated game prop (with solid colors where there had previously been pink and purple marbling) for Season 36. The origin of the name "Make Your Mark" lies with 1994's syndicated The New Price Is Right, on which the game's name was changed for its single appearance (as the show was not hosted by Barker). The game's three prizes had a different staging during early playings of the game. Instead of resting on risers, they were placed on the stage floor and the displays that light up their prices were on individual podiums. The original staging caused confusion when price displays were placed between prizes. The current staging debuted on March 24, 1995. On February 21, 2008, contestants began placing markers themselves rather than verbally choosing a price and the host marking the appropriate selection. On the UK's Bruce's Price Is Right, the game was renamed "Price Tags." Strategy From a purely statistical perspective, if the contestant's selection of the markers is assumed to be random, there is a 75 percent chance of winning by switching the marker and a 25 percent chance by leaving it as-is. This is because the placement of the three markers is also effectively a choice of the one wrong price which is left unmarked. Since there are four possible wrong prices, there is only a one-in-four (25 percent) chance that this initial choice is made correctly. In the other three scenarios, the actual wrong price will be left as the option to switch to, making "switch" the correct decision. This analysis is indicative of the Monty Hall problem. However, unlike in the Monty Hall problem, the contestant in Make Your Mark does not choose randomly from identical doors but rather from four different prices for three prizes. Whether the prices are appropriate for the prizes is a factor in the probability of a choice being correct, and makes the options not equally probable. Category:Pricing Games